System for fitting audio signals for in-use ear

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for automatic fitting of all audio signals according to the ear in which a user is using to receive audio signals from a host device. The host device incorporates an audio signal fitting device, which may comprise an inquirer configured to query the host device for an in-use audio producing transducer; an electronic mechanism configured to identify an ear which a user is using to receive audio signals from a host device, based on the in-use audio producing transducer; and a notifier configured to instruct the host device, based on the identified ear, to output a channel of audio signals to the in-use audio producing transducer. The ear in use may be deduced from inertial data. The instructions may specify a particular channel of audio signals, or enhancement thereof to adjust for characteristics of the identified ear, for example by applying frequency-specific gain adjustments to adjust for frequency response characteristics of the identified ear, and/or to adjust for a detected or typical signal pathway used to transmit a signal to the identified ear.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.non-provisional application Ser. No. 14/151,344 filed Jan. 9, 2014,which issued as U.S. Pat. No. 9,584,920, which claims the benefit ofU.S. provisional patent application No. 61/750,777, filed Jan. 9, 2013,the entire disclosures of which are hereby expressly incorporated hereinby reference.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to audio devices providing enhanced audiosignals. More particularly, it relates to audio devices providingenhanced audio signals to adjust for the inherent hearingcharacteristics of an individual and/or the hearing characteristics ofan individual associated with a particular signal pathway.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An audio device, such as a mobile phone or music player, operates in amonaural manner when used in earpiece mode. There is no distinction, tothe device, between a user using a left or a right ear in receivingaudio signals. This creates a problem because each ear is unique and hasits own hearing characteristics. With the audio device failing toacknowledge and treat each ear as a separate entity, the user is beingrobbed of the chance to listen to customized sound for the specific earand thus missing the opportunity to enjoy a richer and fuller listeningexperience.

An obvious solution to the previously mentioned problem is to have anear (whose inherent hearing characteristics and/or hearingcharacteristics specific to a particular signal pathway regularly usedto transmit sound to that ear are stored in the device) preselectedbefore using the audio device. However, this solution is unnatural andinconvenient. Freedom to select which ear to use to listen to sound froma device should not be restricted by any means. There is no real reasonwhy a user should have to use a particular ear in chatting with herfriends, or be restricted from switching ears during a conversation, forexample. Nor should an extra step or steps be required in providingcustomized sound tailored to the selected ear.

A need therefore exists for a device for automatic fitting of audiosignals to the ear in which the user has selected to receive the audiosignals.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention disclosed herein is designed to enable automatic fittingof all audio signals according to the ear in which a user is using toreceive audio signals from a host device. In some embodiments of thepresent invention, an audio signal fitting device incorporated in thehost device comprises an electronic mechanism configured to identify anear which a user is using to receive audio signals from a host device,based on an in-use audio producing transducer; and a notifier configuredto instruct the host device, based on the identified ear, to output achannel of audio signals to the in-use audio producing transducer. Thehost device may also include an inquirer configured to query a hostdevice for an in-use audio producing transducer. The instructions mayspecify a particular channel of audio signals, or enhancement thereof toadjust for hearing characteristics of the identified ear, such as byfrequency-specific gain adjustments to address frequency-responsecharacteristics of the identified ear, and/or to adjust for a detectedor typical signal pathway used to transmit a signal to the identifiedear.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the audio signal fittingdevice further comprises a collector configured to gather at least onedimension of ear characteristics for both ears; and a modifierconfigured to receive audio signals from the host device, enhance thereceived audio signals based on the characteristics of the identifiedear and specifications from the notifier, and direct the enhanced audiosignals to the in-use audio producing transducer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a component diagram depicting an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting a left ear scenario according to an aspectof the invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting an ear-switching scenario according to anaspect of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram depicting a right ear scenario according to anaspect of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an activity diagram depicting a process embodying an aspect ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is an activity diagram depicting a process for marking anidentified ear according to an aspect of the invention.

FIG. 7 is an activity diagram depicting an output channel settingprocess according to an aspect of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

According to the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1, an audio signalfitting device 12 comprises an inquirer 14, an electronic mechanism 16,a notifier 24, a collector 34, and a modifier 37.

A host device 10 includes a number of components 11, including audiosignal fitting device 12 and at least one audio producing transducer 26,including an in-use audio producing transducer 28. Types of audioproducing transducers 26 included vary depending on the intent andpurpose of the host device 10. A given audio producing transducer 26could be one or a pair of earphones, an earpiece, a speakerphone, or acombination of the foregoing.

When the host device 10 receives an instruction or a number ofinstructions to play one or more audio signals, the inquirer 14communicates with the host device 10 in gathering information about theaudio producing transducers 26. The host device 10 pulls status updatesfrom all of its available audio producing transducers 26 and pushes theretrieved updates to the inquirer 14.

The electronic mechanism 16 comprises at least one inertial measurementunit 18 and an intelligence module 17. Inertial measurement unit 18measures and reports kinetic data associated with host device 10, suchas velocity, orientation, inclination, inertial forces, and/orgravitational forces, for example. Intelligence module 17, based oninformation from inquirer 14, determines the need in pulling andprocessing measurement data from at least one inertial measurement unit18 (FIG. 6):

Case 1: If information from inquirer 14 stated that the in-use audioproducing transducer 28 is of type earphone, intelligence module 17 willnot pull or process measurement data from any one of the inertialmeasurement units 18. It will simply mark the identified ear as “bothears.”

Case 2: If information from the inquirer 14 stated that the in-use audioproducing transducer 28 is of type speakerphone, the intelligence module17 will not pull or process measurement data from any one of theinertial measurement units 18. It will simply mark the identified ear as“combination ears.”

Case 3: If information from the inquirer 14 stated that the in-use audioproducing transducer 28 is of type earpiece, the intelligence module 17will pull measurement data, such as pitch, yaw, and roll, of the hostdevice 10 (for example, if inertial measurement unit 18 is a singlegyroscope) from the inertial measurement unit 18. In this case, as forexample when host device 10 is a smartphone as illustrated in FIGS. 2-4,when value of the roll falls within a negative predetermined range(which may, for instance, be characterized by the left edge of the phonebeing positioned generally below the right edge of the phone, left andright being defined from the perspective of one viewing the phonescreen), it is an indication that the host device 10 is positioned onthe left side of the user's head for left-ear listening. Theintelligence module 17 would then mark the identified ear as “left ear.”On the other hand, when value of the roll falls within a positivepredetermined range (as characterized, for instance, by the right edgeof the phone being positioned generally below the left edge of thephone), it is an indication that the host device 10 is oriented on theright side with respect to the user's head. The intelligence module 17marks the identified ear as “right ear.” To avoid confusion, it isimportant to note that the depictions of host device 10 in the earchoice scenarios of FIGS. 2-4 are merely convenient illustrations of thehost device 10 adjacent to the appropriate ear, while showing a typicalexample of the appearance of the face of a smartphone that may embodyhost device 10, and are not intended to show the actual angularorientation of a smartphone when held against the user's ear. Indeed,for example, although the right edge of host device 10 is below the leftedge in FIG. 2, it is easily seen that the situation will be reversed(the left edge will instead be facing down) when the user rotates thephone into position against his left ear 32 while keeping the mouthpieceend of the phone towards his mouth. The same observation applies inreverse with respect to the user rotating the phone into positionagainst his right ear 30 from the position illustrated in FIG. 4.

Notably, the rule that “left edge down” means “left ear in use,” and“right edge down” means “right ear in use,” considered in theaforementioned examples, tends to apply whether the user is standing orin a reclined position, even lying flat on his or her back, owing to thefact that in both positions, a person's mouth is generally positionedforward of both ears. Positioning the mouthpiece forward of the earpieceof a phone that is facing left (toward a user's right ear) will resultin the right side of the phone facing down (forward and left may bearbitrarily defined depending on which way one faces, but once those twovector directions are defined, up and down are determined). The factthat an edge of the phone can be identified that will generally alwaysface down when a particular ear is in use is especially useful forrendering possible a static identification of which ear is in use, as aninertial measurement unit 18 that is not subjected to changing movementhas no frame of reference to tell left from right or forward frombackward (or in terms of angular orientation, an accelerometer isinsensitive to changes in yaw angle, i.e., rotation about the verticalor “z” axis, which does not change the vertical position of theaccelerometer), but sensing the gravitational field will nonethelessenable it to distinguish up from down.

On the other hand, dynamic position and movement data from inertialmeasurement unit 18 may be used instead of or in addition to its staticorientation to determine which ear is in use. In certain circumstancesin which the motion of host device 10 changes, the changes in motion ofthe device will allow inertial measurement unit 18 to distinguish leftfrom right with a high degree of confidence. For example, if host device10 begins to move in a particular horizontal direction at a walking pace(felt by inertial measurement unit 18 as a pulse of acceleration in adirection in the plane normal to the gravitational field, not followedby an equal pulse of acceleration in the opposite direction),accompanied by bobbing up and down, this is an indication that the useris walking, most probably facing in the direction of walking movement.(Walking at a constant speed may be concurrently or alternativelydetected by a GPS component of the device feeding data to intelligencemodule 17, even if host device 10 does not include an inertialmeasurement unit 18 or inertial measurement unit 18 overlooks a walkingmovement.) If the inertial measurement unit then senses a movement fromthe right to the left relative to the direction identified as a walkingdirection, accompanied by a 180 degree rotation about a vertical axis,it is highly probable that the user has switched host device 10 from hisright ear to his left ear; likewise, if the lateral movement is fromleft to right, then it is highly probable that the user has switchedhost device 10 from his left ear to his right ear.

Another possible dynamic indicator of the ear-in-use position of hostdevice 10 may be contact, and loss thereof, on a user's ear sensed by atouch-sensing component of host device 10, such as a capacitive sensorof a type commonly used in touch screens, a pressure sensor, atemperature sensor, or other suitable touch sensor. For example, if auser manually identifies the ear to be in use to host device 10 and thenplaces host device 10 in contact with that ear, or if the deviceautomatically deduces from any of the indicators discussed herein that aparticular ear is currently in use, followed by an extended time periodof sustained contact, during which the static angular orientation ofhost device 10 (with respect to one or more axes) remains constantlywithin (or usually within) a relatively narrow range, followed by hostdevice 10 sensing that ear contact has been lost and regained, at whichtime host device 10 is positioned at one or more angles far outside thenarrow range, this indicates with a high degree of confidence that theuser has switched to the other (contralateral) ear, which was notinitially identified. Conversely, if contact is established and neverlost after a user manually selects an in-use ear, or if contact is neverlost after the device has automatically deduced that an ear is in use,then the device can deduce with near certainty that the initiallyidentified ear remains in use, despite any indication to the contrarydeduced from inertial data. The confidence in continuous in-ear use isespecially high if any anomalous inertial data is of short duration,tending to indicate a much higher likelihood of the user having brieflyassumed a strained posture, such as bending over to pick up an object orpropping the phone between his or her ear and shoulder, without removingthe phone from contact; than of a loss and regain of contact havingsomehow gone undetected.

Based on ear information, whether indicated by static orientation ordynamic movements of host device 10 in accordance with the foregoingdescription, from the electronic mechanism 16, notifier 24 instructs thehost device 10 to output a channel of audio signals to the in-use audioproducing transducer 28 (FIG. 7). When ear information indicates theidentified ear as “left ear”, the notifier 24 instructs host device 10to output a left channel. When ear information indicates the identifiedear as “right ear”, notifier 24 instructs host device 10 to output aright channel. When ear information indicates the identified ear as“combination ears”, notifier 24 instructs host device 10 to output acombination of left and right channels. When ear information indicatesthe identified ear as “both ears”, notifier 24 instructs the host device10 to output a left channel for the left earphone and a right channelfor the right earphone. As described in more detail below, eachrespective channel may include a particular signal or particular audioenhancements tailored to adjust for hearing characteristics of thespecific ear and/or typical, known, or detected characteristics of asignal pathway used to transmit sound to that ear.

During the usage of host device 10, it is perfectly normal for the userto switch sides or shift the position of host device 10 (FIG. 2, FIG. 3,FIG. 4). Audio signal fitting device 12 detects any changes in real timeand updates host device 10 if necessary with the latest channelinformation. Behind the scenes, intelligence module 17 periodically orcontinuously pulls, retrieves, monitors, and compares measurement datafrom at least one of inertial measurement units 18 with previouslyestablished measurements, as long as the in-use audio producingtransducer 28 is of type earpiece. Also, a “front-of-head” position maybe reset every time the user interacts with a touch screen of hostdevice 10, tending to strongly indicate that the touch screen is facingtoward the user's face. The front-of-head position may be similarlydetected when the user interacts with tactile buttons of host device 10,albeit with a lower degree of confidence, owing to the fact that a usermay be able to identify and interact with buttons solely by feel. Thus,absent other higher-confidence indications that host device 10 is not infact facing the user's face, tactile button interaction may also triggera reset of the front-of-head position. Inquirer 14 updates theintelligence module 17 in real time whenever there are changes in thein-use audio producing transducer 28. If the differences in measurementdata fall outside of a predetermined range (as in the above example ofear contact lost and regained, accompanied by a significantly changedangular orientation), it is likely an indication that host device 10 hasbeen switched from one side to another. Intelligence module 17 theninforms notifier 24 of the new arrangement. Host device 10, uponreceiving the new arrangement from the notifier 24, would instructin-use audio producing transducer 28 in outputting the appropriatechannel of audio signals (FIG. 5).

Before audio signals can be customized for a specific ear,characteristics of each ear need to be gathered. Collector 34 comprisesa hearing test module 35 and a storage module 36. The hearing testmodule 35 seeks to find out the user's minimum audible intensity/decibellevel for at least one of the audiometric frequencies before saving theresult or results to the storage module 36. Hearing test module 35 maybe of a type that generates an auditory profile which isolates or nearlyisolates inherent hearing characteristics (e.g., frequency response) ofthe user's ear from other factors, or a type that generates a “shaped”auditory profile which captures the net response of an entire signalpathway from an input electronic signal to the user's ear, including,for example, environmental noise, transducer characteristics, and/ortransducer position and orientation with respect to the user's ear, thesignal pathway advantageously corresponding to an actual signal pathwaythat the user regularly uses to transmit sound to her ear. In thecontext of a method and system for self-managed sound enhancement, thesetwo types of hearing tests are described in more detail in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/184,776 and provisional application No.61/750,779, the entireties of each of which are hereby incorporated byreference.

The storage module 36 could also be used to hold characteristics of earsfrom other sources, e.g., an audiogram from an audiologist and/or otherhearing characteristics stored in the cloud, which may alternatively oradditionally be used to determine signal enhancement. If there is morethan one set of characteristics in the storage module 36, they may besorted in a particular order or according to predefined rules. Themodifier 37 receives audio signals from the host device 10, enhances thereceived audio signals to adjust for the latest characteristics of theidentified ear and specifications from storage module 36, and electronicmechanism 16, before directing the enhanced audio signals to the in-useaudio producing transducer 28 (FIG. 5). In this manner, the user canenjoy customized sound for the ear which he or she is using to receiveaudio signals from the host device 10.

The invention has been explained with reference to specific embodiments.Other embodiments will be evident to those of ordinary skill in the art.Therefore, it is not intended that the invention be limited, except asindicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for fitting audio signals for an in-useear comprising: a host device; an in-use audio producing transducerassociated with the host device; and an audio signal fitting device; theaudio signal fitting device including a storage module configured tostore hearing characteristics of a right ear and hearing characteristicsof a left ear of a user; the audio signal fitting device including anelectronic mechanism; when the in-use audio producing transducer is ofan earpiece type, the electronic mechanism being configured to identifyan in-use ear which a user is using to listen to audio produced by thein-use audio producing transducer, as either the right ear or the leftear, based on the position and/or movements of the in-use audioproducing transducer; and the audio signal fitting device including anotifier; the notifier being configured to instruct the host device tooutput an output channel of enhanced audio signals to the in-use audioproducing transducer including frequency-specific gain adjustments toadjust for hearing characteristics stored by the storage module for theidentified ear.
 2. The system of claim 1, further comprising when thein-use audio producing transducer is of an earphone type, the notifierbeing configured to instruct the host device to output a left outputchannel of enhanced audio signals to a left earphone of the in-use audioproducing transducer to adjust for hearing characteristics stored by thestorage module for the user's left ear and to output a right outputchannel of enhanced audio signals to a right earphone of the in-useaudio producing transducer to adjust for hearing characteristics storedby the storage module for the user's right ear.
 3. The system of claim1, further comprising when the in-use audio producing transducer is of aspeakerphone type, the notifier being configured to instruct the hostdevice to output an output channel of enhanced audio signals to thein-use audio producing transducer to adjust for a combination of hearingcharacteristics stored by the storage module for both of the user'sears.
 4. The system of claim 1, further comprising: the audio signalfitting device including a collector configured to gather at least onedimension of hearing characteristics of the right ear and the left ear;and the audio signal fitting device including a modifier configured toreceive input audio signals from the host device and to enhance theinput audio signals based on the characteristics of the identified earand specifications from the notifier to produce said output channel ofenhanced audio signals.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the collectorcomprises a hearing test module and said storage module, the hearingtest module configured to determine a minimum audible intensity level ofthe user for at least one audiometric frequency and to save said minimumaudible intensity level to the storage module.
 6. The system of claim 4,wherein the collector is configured to receive external hearing testresults from an external source, said stored hearing characteristics ofthe identified ear being determined by the external hearing testresults.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the electronic mechanismcomprises an intelligence module and at least one inertial measurementunit.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the intelligence module isconfigured to assess the orientation of the host device relative to theuser's head, based on measurement data from the at least one inertialmeasurement unit, in identifying the ear which the user is using toreceive audio signals from the host device.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein the intelligence module is further configured to track anddetect any changes in previously established measurements and re-assessthe orientation of the host device relative to the user's head inre-identifying the ear which the user is using to receive audio signalsfrom the host device.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronicmechanism is configured to perform said tracking, detection, andassessment automatically and in real time.
 11. The system of claim 9,wherein the electronic mechanism is configured to perform said tracking,detection, and assessment at variable time intervals.
 12. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the inertial measurement unit is a gyroscope.
 13. Thesystem of claim 7, wherein the inertial measurement unit is anaccelerometer.
 14. The system of claim 7, wherein the inertialmeasurement unit is an accelerometer and a gyroscope.
 15. An audiosignal fitting method using a host device connected to an in-use audioproducing transducer, comprising: when the in-use audio producingtransducer is of an earpiece type, identifying an ear which a user isusing to listen to audio produced by the transducer; receiving inputaudio signals from the host device; adjusting the input audio signalsfor stored hearing characteristics of the identified ear to produce anoutput channel of enhanced audio signals; and instructing the hostdevice to output the output channel of enhanced audio signals to thein-use audio producing transducer.
 16. The method of claim 15, furthercomprising: gathering at least one dimension of ear characteristics forboth ears; and further adjusting the input audio signals forcharacteristics of a signal pathway to the identified ear to producesaid output channel of enhanced audio signals.
 17. The method of claim16, wherein characteristics of the signal pathway are derived from aself-administered hearing test that measures left- and right-ear hearingcharacteristics of the individual for the signal pathway, the signalpathway comprising at least one of: a transducer with differentfrequency response characteristics than those of a transducer meetinghearing test standards; and detectable environmental sounds.
 18. Themethod of claim 15, further comprising when the in-use audio producingtransducer is of an earphone type, causing the host device to output aleft output channel of enhanced audio signals to a left earphone of thein-use audio producing transducer to adjust for hearing characteristicsstored by the storage module for the user's left ear and to output aright output channel of enhanced audio signals to a right earphone ofthe in-use audio producing transducer to adjust for hearingcharacteristics stored by the storage module for the user's right ear.19. The system of claim 15, further comprising when the in-use audioproducing transducer is of a speakerphone type, causing the host deviceto output an output channel of enhanced audio signals to the in-useaudio producing transducer to adjust for a combination of hearingcharacteristics stored by the storage module for both of the user'sears.